Daffest will go this weekend on despite flooding

April 29, 2011

SARANAC LAKE - The village's first-ever daffodil festival will take place this weekend, despite a state of emergency in the village triggered by flooding along Lake Flower and the Saranac River.

Mayor Clyde Rabideau said Thursday that Daffest is still scheduled to get under way at noon today and continue through Sunday.

"The show will go in Saranac Lake because that is part of our indomitable spirit," Rabideau said. "If we have to jump off a parade float and go fill up sandbags and throw them in a place where there's some flooding, we'll do that. But we're going to go on."

Article Photos

Saranac Lake's daffodils have bloomed, like this one in Berkeley Green Thursday morning, thanks to warm weather, rain and a little bit of sunshine.(Enterprise photo — Peter Crowley)

Most of the events associated with Daffest will be based in or near Riverside Park, part of which was under water this morning. The adjacent section of Main Street over the Lake Flower Dam is taped off and blockaded to pedestrians and vehicles.

But Rabideau seemed undeterred.

"If there's water around, we'll make accommodations," he said. "We adapt here in Saranac Lake. That's part of our spirit."

The good news is that the recent warm weather and a little bit of sunshine appears to have been enough to spur the blossoming of many of the 51,000 daffodils that were planted around the village last fall in preparation for Daffest.

"Believe it or not, those daffodil bulbs have blossomed, and we have a beautiful village, thanks to a lot of great rain, I have to believe," Rabideau said.

Daffest begins today at noon with a proclamation by Rabideau, garden tours, history tours and a food and beverage festival. Horse-drawn wagon rides, a lemon festival, live music, a parade and soap box derby races down LaPan Highway are among other highlights of the three-day festival.

For the full schedule of events go to www.daffest.com or pick up a copy of the Weekender supplement that was inside Thursday's Enterprise.